Friday, February 3, 2017

Judgment Day For Kidnappers In Lagos!

By Jeddy Omisore

Lagos
State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has signed the Anti-Kidnapping Law, which
stipulates death penalty for kidnappers. The law recommends death for
kidnappers in whose custody victims died and life jail for those who kidnapped
for ransom. Espousing the importance of security to his administration, the
governor has said: Security is of utmost importance to our administration and
we are confident that this law will serve as a deterrent to anybody who may
desire to engage in this wicked act within the boundaries of Lagos.

The
Anti-Kidnapping Law is comprehensive as it prescribes punishment for the
actors, the collaborators, and those who saw the kidnapping being
perpetrated and did nothing about it. Certainly, the wave of kidnapping has
gotten to a stage where the government can no longer fold its arms and watch as
kidnapper terrorise the populace. Thus, the law is meant to send signals to
kidnappers that an end has come to their filthy and criminal game.

It is not
surprising that the Lagos State government is paying deserved attention to
security issues. Lagos, being the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, and
indeed West Africa, has enormous security challenges bearing in mind its
burgeoning population, its ports and waterways, its border with Benin Republic as
well as its numerous banks, industries and other commercial enterprises.

With this peculiar status, the rate of crime in Lagos, over the years, has been
relatively higher as it is in other parts of the country. Though, a national
problem, topping the log of debated crimes among Lagosians these days is
kidnapping. Kidnapping was re-invented’ in the creeks of the Niger Delta
by militants as a way of coercing government to meet their developmental
demand. Later on it was ‘perfected’ in the South East for commercial purposes.
Today, the crime has become converted into a top money-spinning industry by
unscrupulous criminals who kidnap for ransom across the nation.

According
to a Freedom House report, Nigeria recorded one of the highest rates of
kidnapping in the world in 2013. Similarly, the U.S. Department of State’s
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 indicates that kidnapping
and related violence were “serious” problems in Nigeria.

Today, in
Nigeria, kidnappers spare neither the old nor the young. Their victims cut
across age grades while hitherto considered sacred men have been touched.
Father of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Pa Ebele Jonathan was kidnapped
while his son was the Vice President. Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, Chief Olu Falae,
and a traditional ruler in Lagos, Oniba of Iba, Yishau Goriola Oseni among
other high profile personalities which included parents of footballers like
Joseph Yobo and Mikel Obi had all been kidnapped in the recent past. Last year,
three school girls were seized from Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary,
Ikorodu, but were later freed by the police. And recently, students and staff
of Nigeria-Turkish International School, Isheri, Ogun State, were kidnapped and
later released after ransom was paid.

Just in
the same manner society has always used punishment to discourage prospective
criminals from unlawful acts, signing of the Anti-Kidnapping Law is
understandably aimed at checkmating the spate of kidnapping with stiffer
penalties, including death sentence for offenders.

Currently,
the pain that the spate of kidnapping is causing the country is enormous. We
are a nation in recession and, therefore, in dire need of fresh investments
that could boost the economy. Naturally, no sane investor would want to put his
money in an unsafe environment. So, kidnapping grossly undermines the country’s
economic prospect. Not only this, it is an embarrassment to the image of the
country. It doesn’t do our nation much good to be viewed in the comity of
nations as a haven of rogues and criminals. Many times, these criminals
have dealt in the most inhuman and callous ways with expatriates working,
particularly, in the oil industry as well as other sectors. This isn’t right as
it does more havoc to the image of our nation when it is seen as an unsafe
place to transact business.

However,
for the new law to really become effective and achieve desired goals, there is
an urgent need to boost the efficiency of relevant law enforcement agencies
through training and empowerment. Our security operatives should also improve
on their modern technology skill acquisition. Singapore, for instance, has
recorded a greater success in criminal justice delivery system because there is
certainty of apprehension and prosecution through the instrumentality of modern
technological devices. Similarly, South Africa has recorded a greater
success in criminal justice delivery system because there is certainty of
apprehension and prosecution through the instrumentality of modern
technological devices.

It is only
when the law enforcement agencies are sufficiently empowered and motivated
coupled with an atmosphere of a corruption-free judiciary and a dogged
tenacious prosecutorial drive that any penal sanction, no matter how severe,
can be meaningful.

On a
final note, implementing death penalty to prevent continuous growth of the
crime is required to stop Nigeria from becoming a kidnapper’s den like Mexico,
Brazil, Colombia and Philippines, where the crime has developed a life of its
own.*Omisore
works for the Lagos State Government.